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2016 Baker Street Pub Book Swap Party
Thanks to everyone who attended the Book Swap at Baker St. Pub. Or, as Siri was calling it: Baker Saint Pub. Go figure she doesn’t know St. also means street. I thought I would send the book list to all Crime & Beyond Members, even those who weren’t able to attend. Many of us like to read the same books and this is a great list of recommendations, since we all brought a book we really loved. Jeff recommends The Quiet Game by Greg Iles. It’s the first in the Penn Cage series that takes place in Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez might sound familiar because Natchez Burning was book 4 in this series that so far looks like it will have 6 books total. Amy recommends The Intern’s Handbook by John Lago. It’s Dexter meets The Office when the main character takes a job at a Manhattan law firm – not in order to climb the corporate ladder, but to get close to and assassinate one of the top partners. Janice recommends Rock With Wings by Anne Hillerman. Anne is the daughter of Tony Hillerman, and carries on in his footsteps with this series that continues her father’s work—but concentrates on new characters: Navajo Tribal cops Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito—in this Southwestern mystery. Sharon K. recommends All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke. Also the daughter of a famous writer (James Lee Burke) Alafair’s series, however, does not follow in her father’s footsteps. She writes about NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and her partner JJ Rogan and in this book they take a fresh look at an old crime whose convicted perpetrator is doing “all day and a night” or life without parole. Pat recommends A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders. This author’s debut novel follows London book editor Samantha "Sam" Clair as she gets drawn into an investigation and tries to determine why someone doesn’t want her client’s gossipy, tell all novel published. Kerry recommends Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. Also a debut novel, this is a book of psychological suspense. It’s compared to Gone Girl, but in Kerry’s opinion far superior. It follows what appears to be a perfect relationship between a husband and wife. They have the perfect house, the perfect marriage, the perfect life. But the reader sees what actually happens behind closed doors. Lorraine recommends Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. This is the first in a new series following Evan Smoak, who was chosen as a child and raised and trained in an off-the-books Orphan program. The program’s goal: to create assets to be used as government assassins. (Additional Note: several people from the Book Swap have already read or started this book and it’s getting rave reviews.) Cindy recommends No Second Chance by Harlan Coben. Marc Seidman’s wife has been murdered, he has been shot twice, and his daughter has been kidnapped. Not a great start to a day. It gets worse when he receives a ransom note and sets out to try and get his daughter back. In typical Coben style, you know there will be twists. Joan recommends Coyote Wind by Peter Bowen. Billed as a throwback to the novels by Zane Grey, this book takes place in Montana and follows French-Indian cattle inspector Gabriel Du Pre. In this first book in the series he investigates a 30 year old plane crash that contains 3 skeletons. Two are whole but one is just hands and a skull... and a bullet. Jay recommends Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. Just before John Grisham hit the legal thriller world, there was Scott Turow. Harrison Ford brought prosecuting attorney Rusty Sabich to life on the big screen in this calculating thriller with one of the best twist endings out there. The Amazon description ends with: it will hold you and haunt you...long after you have reached its shattering conclusion. Stay tuned for the next Book Swap, we will schedule another this winter and I will be more on the ball and reserve the quiet library room at Baker Street. Next time we’ll have games and prizes too! Kerry